“It was a fucking lift and nothing more.”

I roll my eyes. “The jury is still out on that one.”

“Does he sneak upstairs whenever he’s horny?” He nods as if picturing something. “I’m getting the full picture now. Of course, that’s it.”

“Listen.” I poke him hard in the chest. “If you want to spend time with me, act like a grownup and not a fucking petulant child.”

“What?” he explodes loudly; people around us all turn to see what the commotion is.

“Keep your voice down,” I whisper angrily. “Where’s the swoony guy who took me out?”

He holds his hands out wide. “I’m right fucking here, Kate.”

“No. You’re not. You’re being Elliot Miles on me, the power-hungry control freak, and I don’t like him. I’ve never liked him.”

“I can’t change who I am.”

“I’m not asking for a marriage proposal, Elliot. I’m not even asking for a full-on relationship.”

“What are you asking for?”

I stare at him for a moment as I collect my thoughts. I know I can get hurt here, it’s a real possibility, but I’m sick of being scared of feeling something . . . anything. And even if this ends badly, I won’t have the what-if regrets that I already do.

Fuck it, I’m going to try.

I have to.

“I want you to give us a chance, and not be an asshole every time you get scared,” I whisper softly. I need to cool this situation down.

“I’m not scared,” he spits.

“Bullshit.” I take his hand in mine. “Stop trying to hide from me, Elliot. I can see straight through you.”

He snaps his eyes away from me, infuriated. “I don’t want him touching you.”

“Okay.”

His eyes meet mine.

“Elliot . . . I don’t want to end this . . . whatever this is,” I whisper. “I’d like to see where it goes, but I don’t want you making me feel like shit every time you’re having a bad day.”

A frown crosses his brow.

“Can we just see how it goes, and you not be an asshole for two minutes?” I ask.

“I told you, I can’t change who I am.”

I think he may just be the world’s worst communicator. Empathy fills me and I stand up on my tippy toes and softly kiss him; he frowns against me as if surprised.

“I’m not a plumber, Kate,” he murmurs as he puts his hands on my hips.

“But you are very good with my pipes.”

“Well . . .” He gives me a slow, sexy smile and I know that for the moment, my tiger has been tamed. “They are great pipes to work with.”

“Can we go home?” I whisper.

“What about your date?” he replies flatly.

“Daniel?” I shrug. “I’ll handle him. He just needs someone to walk into a venue with, he’ll pick up a gorgeous woman in about ten minutes flat. You don’t need to worry about Daniel, Elliot, he is the last of your worries with me. I’ve seen him pick up women a million times. I promise you, we really are just friends.”

A trace of a smile crosses his face and I know he liked that answer. “If he baits me again, it’s on.”

“Okay.” I smile up at the mercurial man before me. “I’ll talk to him.”

“I just moved house today.” He shrugs. “I’m not sorted yet; my house is full of boxes.”

“That’s fine.” I smile. “I don’t care if we sleep on the floor.”

“Who said anything about sleep?” he says as he raises an eyebrow.

I smile up at him and he takes me into his arms and hugs me, and it’s tight and tender and full of unexpected emotion.

Maybe we really do have something here?

“Meet me out the front in ten minutes?” I ask. “I just need to go and say goodbye.”

He pulls back and keeps my hand tightly gripped in his.

“I’m coming out in ten minutes, tops,” I reassure him.

He exhales heavily, and I know he doesn’t want me to go back inside to Daniel.

“Elliot.”

“Fine. You have five minutes.”

I kiss him quickly and make my way back into the auction room. Daniel has moved and I look around. Where is he?

I find him talking to a group of women in the corner, and I smile. I wasn’t lying before to Elliot, he really does very well in the hook-up department. He glances up, sees me, and excuses himself.

“Hi.”

“Thank God you got rid of that fuckwit,” he whispers.

“Um . . .” I frown. “About that.”

He rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell me.”

“We just need to talk.”

“With body fluid? Come on, Kate.”

“Stop it, I want to see where this goes.”

“Why?”

“Because he makes me forget who I am, Daniel, and when I’m with him, I’m not sad Kathryn any more. For the first time in years, I feel like my old self. I need you to be my friend and support me in this.”

“For God’s sake,” he mutters under his breath. “He’s a psycho.”

“Maybe.” I shrug. “Are you okay if I go?”

“Fine,” he snaps. “Fuck off then.”

I smile.

He kisses me on the cheek. “Bye.”

“Are you sure?”

He widens his eyes. “Positive.”

“See you at home?”

“Yeah.” Daniel turns back to his conversation with the girls, fully distracted. I let out a sigh of relief and, with nerves swirling around in my stomach, I turn toward the door.

I walk out of the front door and look around, see the black Mercedes double-parked. I cross the road and go around to the passenger side, the lock clicks open, and I get in, and because of his close proximity my mood instantly changes from anxious to excited in two seconds flat. “Hi,” I whisper.

He stares over at me and the air crackles between us.

“You piss me off,” he says.

I smile softly. There’s the bossy man I know.

“And I’m not taking your crap, Elliot, don’t ask me to. It won’t fly with me.”

He goes to say something and I cut him off.

“Shut up and kiss me.”

He grabs my face and pulls me to him; his tongue takes no prisoners as it swipes through my open lips. His grip is dominant and hot and . . . oh . . . “You pissed me off,” he repeats.

“What are you going to do about it,” I murmur against his lips.

His grip on my face tightens, his teeth graze my bottom lip. “You’ll see.” He pulls out into the traffic and revs the car hard as he takes off at speed. I look between him and the road as I swallow the lump in my throat.

Fuck.

I think I’m in for one hell of a night.

What seems like a long time later we are somewhere in the country. “This is where your new house is?” I frown.

“Uh-huh.” He nods, his eyes staying glued to the road.

“When did you move here?” He told me about buying a new place but I never asked where it was.

“Today.”

“So, this is your first night here?”

“Yep.”

“Oh.” I try to hide my goofy smile; I like that I get to spend his first night here with him. He turns off the main road and we see a stone sign, although I can’t make out what it says. “Is this your road?”

“This is my driveway.”

“Your driveway?” I gasp. “All this land is yours? Holy hell, Elliot.”

A trace of a smile crosses his face as we wind up the hill on the small road. I can’t see much because it’s so dark, but there are loads of trees in the headlights.

“This is only temporary,” he says, his eyes still on the road.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to live in the house for a few months as it is, work out what works and what doesn’t, and then renovate or rebuild. It’s very”—he pauses as if searching for the right word—“original, in its current state.”

“I like original.”

“I like you,” he fires back as his eyes flick over.

I smile. “I like you too.”

He reaches over and runs his hand up my thigh. “You can show me just how much in a minute.” He slides his hand under my dress and rubs the backs of his fingers over my sex.